Swedish Television Ads – Part 2

So, Beyoncé had a huge concert this past weekend, yeah?! I think she called it, “The Superbowl”.

I’m sorry we missed out on the Superbowl this year, our first abroad. We would’ve watched it, but it was starting at midnight and…well, Matt has a real job, and my bedtime hovers between 7:30pm and 9pm…so it wasn’t happening. Besides, I can’t drink beer and eat a ton of crap food anyway, and that’s the point of the event. For me.

I subscribe to the thought that real men play rugby, and despite being a home-grown good American girl…I still don’t know anything about football except that I cheer for the boys who played for Cal during my time (Aaron Rodgers, Marshawn Lynch, etc.) – because GO BEARS. And, now that we’re in Sweden, I’ve come to see the great northern light, and that is that hockey ranks right up there with rugby (and water polo, and rowing) and that is ABOVE football.

BUT, I’m an all-out advertising geek, so sometimes the Superbowl ads interest me (though…not often, honestly). In the spirit of sharing some good commercials this week, though, I will throw out an update of my current favorite Swedish ads.

First up, a most appropriate commercial:

Never ceases to make me laugh out loud. Is this an exclusively Swedish commercial? I have no idea…but I love it. I love all the Gainomax “Bananas are for Monkeys” commercials, but this is the only one I’ve seen aired before.

*Side-note: We are addicted to Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy (makes me miss California!) on Netflix…so my actual television commercial viewing is almost non-existent these days. Some of these ads are pretty old.

Next up, a prime example of an older ad, but still a good one. Gambling is legal in Sweden, and quite popular it seems. Tons of gambling ads – like car commercials in the States.

Do I like it because the bear cub reminds me of Piper? Probably.

Now, I’m not someone who cares about the “cats on the internet” thing, but something about a cat + R. Kelly + Swedish language (so I don’t know what’s going on), is just gold.

Next commercial up is just awesome. This is where we do our grocery shopping, and the fact that they got 50% of Ace of Base in the commercial makes my LIFE. Ace of Base was my first CD ever. True story: my second CD was TLC’s “Oooooohhh on the TLC Tip” and my Dad hated it, said my first CD choice was better. I digress…

Last, this is not a recent commercial, nor is it a Swedish one I don’t think. It does, however, explain a traditional Swedish day quite well:

The best part of this commercial (oh, and there is so much to list) is that you can tell the importance of fika*. Swedes do not mess around with their fika breaks! Another true story: Matt once got in trouble here for working through a fika break one day.

Can you imagine if the US Marines had time for fika? Kids, we call that unproductivity the Army 😉

Goodness, I’m a roll, aren’t I?! I’ve publicly dissed football and the Army in a post about Swedish commercials. Yeesh, where does one go from here?

Well, if you’re feeling saucy…I’m clearly not the only one of this mindset: see here.

*fika is a coffee break, typically around 9 or 10am, and 2pm, spent with friends and enjoyed with treats. obviously the swedes know how to live right.